EP4226566A1

EP4226566A1 - Methods and systems for registering a digital medium and verifying a registration of a digital medium

Info

Publication number: EP4226566A1
Application number: EP21847478.1A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Nikolaos SAKLAMPANAKIS
Original assignee: Fujitsu Technology Solutions GmbH
Current assignee: Fujitsu Technology Solutions GmbH
Priority date: 2021-12-23
Filing date: 2021-12-23
Publication date: 2023-08-16
Also published as: WO2023117104A1; JP2024503173A

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method (100, 300) for registering a digital medium using a permissioned blockchain network, the method comprising: - receiving (S101, 303), by at least one peer (33) of a permissioned blockchain network, a digital medium from a medium provider and an identifier of the medium provider, - executing (S102, 305), by the at least one peer (33), a smart contract (34) for registering the digital medium, - verifying (S103, 306), by the at least one peer (33), the identifier of the medium provider using the smart contract (34), - determining (S104, 306), by the at least one peer (33), a content identifier of the digital medium using the smart contract (34), - generating (S105, 306), by the at least one peer (33), a registration identifier corresponding to the digital medium using the smart contract (34), - storing (S106, 307), by the at least one peer (33), the registration identifier in a blockchain, - providing (S107, 309, 310), by the at least one peer (33), the registration identifier and the content identifier to a database (36). The invention further relates to a corresponding system, a method and system for verifying a registration of a digital medium, computer programs and computer-readable storage media.

Description

METHODS AND SYSTEMS FOR REGISTERING A DIGITAL MEDIUM AND VERI FYING A REGISTRATION OF A DIGITAL MEDIUM

The present invention relates to a method for registering a digital medium . The present invention further relates to a method for veri fying a registration of a digital medium . The present invention further relates to corresponding systems , a computer program and a computer readable storage medium .

How to veri fy an original owner of an asset , such as a piece of art , a piece of music, a written document , a video , or any other type of a digital or real-world asset , has always been a challenge . In particular, since electronic devices can be used to easily multiply and distribute digital media of such assets electronically, a possibility of proof of ownership of an asset shown or comprised in such digital medium is even more urgently needed . An electronical way of proving an ownership of such medium, however, is usually prone to manipulation and, therefore , rather unreliable .

It is an obj ect of the present invention to provide secure and reliable methods , systems , computer programs and computer readable storage media for registering a digital medium and veri fying a registration of a digital medium .

The above-mentioned obj ect is achieved by the features of the attached independent claims . Further advantageous embodiments are provided in the dependent claims , as well as in the attached figures and the description thereof . According to a first aspect , a method for registering a digital medium using a permissioned blockchain network comprises : receiving, by at least one peer of a permissioned blockchain network, a digital medium from a medium provider and an identi fier of the medium provider, executing, by the at least one peer, a smart contract for registering the digital medium, veri fying, by the at least one peer, the identi fier of the medium provider using the smart contract , determining, by the at least one peer, a content identi fier of the digital medium using the smart contract , generating, by the at least one peer, a registration identi fier corresponding to the digital medium using the smart contract , storing, by the at least one peer, the registration identi fier in a blockchain, providing, by the at least one peer, the registration identi fier and the content identi fier to a database .

A blockchain network is a technical infrastructure that provides ledger and smart contract ( also known as "chaincode" ) services to applications . For example , smart contracts are used to generate transactions which may subsequently be distributed to every peer in the network where they are immutably recorded on their copy of the ledger, i . e . , in a blockchain . The users of applications might be end users using client applications or blockchain network administrators .

Permissioned blockchain networks are blockchain networks that require access to be part of . In these blockchain types , control layer runs on top of the blockchain that governs the actions performed by the allowed participants. For example, multiple organizations come together as a consortium to form the network and their permissions are determined by a set of policies that are agreed by the consortium. Alternatively, the network is set up by a single trusted authority, which governs the network.

The blockchain network is comprised of peers (also called "peer nodes") , each of which can hold copies of ledgers and copies of smart contracts. Peers can be created, started, stopped, reconfigured, and even deleted. They expose a set of application programming interfaces, APIs, that enable administrators and applications to interact with the services that they provide. The blockchain network is built up from the peers owned and contributed by the different organizations. Each peer has an identity assigned to them via a digital certificate from a particular certificate authority. For example, a peer may be implemented by software based on predefined specifications. For auditability, security, and/or trust reasons, open source implemented peers may be used. The deployment of a peer may be on-premise or on cloud, or on infrastructure provided by a third party or any combination thereof.

A digital medium in this context may be any kind of digital asset, for which proof of ownership shall be registered, and of which a content identifier can be determined. The digital medium may be, for example, any visual or auditory medium of a digital or real-world asset, such as, for example, a picture of a visual artwork, a visual document, a piece of music or spoken words, a video, etc. A content identifier may be an identifier that uniquely identifies a content of the digital medium. The content identifier is, for example, an acoustic and/or a visual fingerprint of the digital medium. For example in case the digital medium is a song, the content identifier may be an acoustic fingerprint of the song, for example a deterministically generated time-frequency relation (i.e., a spectrogram) from an audio signal corresponding to the song. In case of a video, video fingerprinting or video hashing may be used, which are a class of dimension reduction techniques in which a software identifies, extracts, and then summarizes characteristic components of a video as a unique or a set of multiple perceptual hashes. In case the digital medium is an image, any type of known visual recognition technique, with which a content of the image may uniquely be identified, e.g. a light per pixel spectrogram, may be used to obtain the content identifier.

Furthermore, in the step of determining a content identifier, also more than one, for example three, content identifier may be determined. Each determined content identifier may then be provided to the database, and the database may be searched by just one of the multiple or by several of the multiple content identifiers. In case of an image, for example, a first content identifier may be determined, which relates to a value by which a light of each pixel of the image differs from an average value of light of the entire or a part of the image, and, a second content identifier may be determined, which relates to a value by which a light of each pixel of the image differs from a light value of its neighboring pixels. For example, a trained artificial intelligence model may be used to determine which of the multiple content identifiers should be trusted most and how they are weighted, for a search of a matching database entry, with respect to each other.

In this context, it shall be pointed out, that the content identifier identifies the digital medium based on the content comprised in the digital medium itself (e.g. an artwork shown in an image or the music of a sound file) and not based on the digital file (e.g. metadata or hash of the file itself) , in which it is comprised.

The medium provider, in this context, is the entity, which is providing the digital medium to the network, either for registration purposes or for obtaining information regarding an ownership of a digital medium. The medium provider may be, for example, an electronic device using a gateway, a web application, or any other means through which a person or organization may provide the digital medium to the blockchain network. The identifier of the medium provider may be any identifier, which uniquely identifies the corresponding medium provider. For example, the identifier of the medium provider may be a signature of the medium provider, a cryptographic key, in particular a public key of the medium provider for asymmetric cryptography, or a cryptographically verifiable certificate, e.g., a certificate according to the X.509 standard.

The smart contract defines rules for the blockchain network in executable code. The peers may invoke a smart contract to generate transactions that are recorded on the ledger. Using the blockchain network, the smart contract, therefore, is implementing an executable program. The smart contract can implement governance rules, so that they can be automatically enforced when the smart contract is executed. In the present case , by executing the smart contract , an algorithm is started, with which the identi fier of the medium provider is veri fied and the content identi fier of the digital medium is determined . Additionally, an identi fier of the registration process , herein called the registration identi fier, is generated . This registration identi fier corresponds to the above-mentioned transactions , which are generated and recorded in the blockchain by executing the smart contract . The registration identi fier uniquely identi fies the registration process of a certain digital medium . The registration identi fier can then be used to veri fy, whether the corresponding registration process was performed, by identi fying whether it has been appended to the blockchain .

An advantage of the method according to the first aspect for registering a digital medium using a permissioned blockchain network is that a secure and reliable registration of the ownership of the digital medium is provided and, therefore , a secure and reliable way of proving an ownership of an asset shown or otherwise comprised in the digital medium is provided . Thereby, a reliability of the data of an external database as due to the cross-reference of the database ' s entries and blockchain entries is enhanced . Moreover, direct matches may be searched and retrieved directly from the blockchain due to the stored registration identi fiers . Similarity based query may be performed by utili zing the external database for ef ficiency reasons . Similarity based queries may be implemented also on the smart contract application for some use-cases . Moreover, the method described herein also provides a rapid and easy to use method for registering such asset . In that the smart contract itsel f is used to authenticate the medium provider by veri fying its identi fier, determine the content identi fier of the digital medium and generate the registration identi fier, those tasks are linked together for additional security and a rapid processing .

A further advantage is that this method for registering the digital medium enables the blockchain network to further additional application possibilities , based on the registering process according to the first aspect , which are described in more detail with regard to the dependent claims and with regard to the attached figures . For example , while registering a digital medium, similar entries to the digital medium in the database may be queried and/or evaluated . Additionally or alternatively, di f ferent authentication procedures and/or permissions for the medium provider may be applied, which makes the registration method easily adaptable to di f ferent blockchain network architectures and/or security and implementation requirements . Moreover, with the method described herein, information regarding registered digital media may be easily and reliably retrieved .

According to at least one embodiment , the method further comprises : determining whether the database comprises at least one content identi fier identical and/or similar to the content identi fier corresponding to the digital medium received from the medium provider according to a similarity threshold .

An advantage thereof is that , at the time of registering the digital medium, it can be checked, whether an identical or similar asset has already been registered . This way, a reliability of the proof of ownership of the asset can be improved, in that , for example , a noti fication can be generated either to the provider of the digital medium which shall be registered, or to a provider of a digital medium which already has been registered, in case an identical or similar asset has already been registered, thereby possibly detecting a fraudulent registration ( either of the current registration process or of a previous , already existing registration) .

According to at least one embodiment , the content identi fier is further propagated to at least one further peer of the permissioned blockchain network .

An advantage thereof is that a security of the determination of the content identi fier with the smart contract may additionally be improved . For example , by propagating the content identi fier from a first peer to other peers , it can be checked whether the content identi fier determined by the first peer is determined correctly, i . e . , whether the first peer determines the same content identi fier as other peers of the network . In case one peer determines a di f ferent content identi fier than the other peers , said one peer might have been tempered with or might mal function due to other reasons . According noti fications may be generated, the first peer may be neglected or omitted from the network, or other measures may be taken .

According to at least one embodiment , the identi fier of the medium provider is further stored, by the at least one peer, in the blockchain . An advantage thereof is , for example , that the registrations of digital media may also be stored in the database with reference to the corresponding medium providers stored in the blockchain . This way, the blockchain then may be queried, for example , to provide results based on the medium provider, in case digital media of a certain medium provider are of interest .

According to at least one embodiment , the method further comprises : transmitting, by the at least one peer, a result of the registering of the digital medium to the medium provider .

This way, the medium provider can be noti fied, for example by transmitting a "registration success ful" message , whether the registration process has been success ful . Additionally, for example , in case the result of the registering process comprises also a noti fication concerning similar and/or identical results with regard to the content identi fiers of the digital medium which the medium provider wishes to register, the medium provider can be noti fied accordingly and the medium provider can take additional steps to veri fy whether the digital medium which shall be registered, or whether other digital media already registered in the database and the blockchain were possibly registered fraudulently . Moreover, transmitting the result of the registering may also comprise transmitting the content identi fier and/or the registration identi fier to the medium provider, such that the medium provider can store those for further references .

According to at least one embodiment , the method further comprises : receiving, by the at least one peer, metadata corresponding to the digital medium, analyzing, by the at least one peer, the metadata, and providing, by the at least one peer, the metadata to the database.

An advantage thereof is that the additional metadata may provide additional possibilities to query the database, based on such metadata. The metadata may comprise, for example, names of an originator of an asset which is comprised in the digital medium, a time of origination of the asset, a location of an origination of the asset, the aforementioned with regard to the digital medium itself, additional information of a file with which the digital medium is provided, i.e. a type of a file (.jpeg, .png, .pdf, .mp3, .mov, .wav, etc.) , a time of creation and/or modification, a size, etc. When those additional information is stored based on the metadata in the database, the database may be queried, for example, to find registrations from a certain composer, from a certain file-type, created at/bef ore/af ter a certain time, etc.

According to a second aspect, a method for verifying a registration of a digital medium using a permissioned blockchain network comprises: receiving, by at least one peer of a permissioned blockchain network, a digital medium from a medium provider, executing, by the at least one peer, a smart contract for verifying the registration of the digital medium in the permissioned blockchain network, determining, by the at least one peer, a content identifier of the digital medium using the smart contract, transmitting, by the at least one peer, the content identifier of the digital medium to the medium provider, wherein the content identifier is used by the medium provider to search a database for at least one stored content identi fier corresponding to the determined content identi fier and at least one corresponding registration identi fier, receiving, by the at least one peer, the at least one registration identi fier, determining, by the at least one peer, using the smart contract executed on the at least one peer, whether the at least one registration identi fier is stored in a blockchain to veri fy the received at least one registration identi fier, and transmitting, by the at least one peer, a result of the veri fication of the at least one registration identi fier to the medium provider .

An advantage thereof is , that a secure and reliable method is provided, according to which a database may be queried in order to veri fy whether ownership of an asset , of which a digital medium is provided, has been registered in the blockchain network . With this method according to the second aspect , registrations which may have been performed according to the first aspect , may be easily and rapidly retrieved, based on a provided digital medium, and veri fied . This way, a registration identi fier, which is found in the database due to an identity or similarity of the determined content identi fier and at least one stored content identi fier, may be veri fied by checking whether a corresponding registration identi fier is stored in a blockchain .

In case a corresponding registration identi fier is found in the blockchain, it can be determined that at least one corresponding registration process for at least one digital medium, to which the at least one stored content identi fier corresponds , was performed and has been registered in the blockchain . Accordingly, it can be determined that ownership of such digital medium has previously been registered .

In case no stored content identi fier matching the determined content identi fier can be found in the database , it can be determined that ownership of a corresponding digital medium has not yet been registered in the blockchain network . In case , however, at least one stored content identi fier can be found in the database , but a veri fication of the corresponding registration identi fier fails , it can be determined that an entry regarding ownership of said digital medium has been tempered with in the database .

Similar as explained with regard to the first aspect , also according to the second aspect , more than one content identi fier may be used . In case multiple content identi fiers are stored in the database with respect to a digital medium, the database may be searched for a match of j ust one of the multiple content identi fiers or may be searched for matches of more than one of the multiple content identi fiers , e . g . based on a weighted importance of the content identi fiers and/or based on respective thresholds .

Further advantages , as well as technical details and embodiments of the method according to the second aspect correspond to those of the method according to the first aspect and are not described herein again . The method according to the first aspect and the second aspect are computer implemented methods .

According to at least one embodiment , the transmitting, by the at least one peer, a result of the veri fication of the at least one registration identi fier further comprises : transmitting, by the at least one peer, at least one identi fier of at least one medium provider corresponding to the at least one registration identi fier .

An advantage thereof is that not only can it be determined whether a registration existed, but also which medium provider registered an ownership of the registered digital medium .

According to at least one embodiment , the at least one content identi fier corresponding to the determined content identi fier is at least one content identi fier, which is identical and/or similar to the determined content identi fier .

An advantage thereof is that not only registrations of identical digital media can be veri fied, but also registrations can be found, which have a certain similarity, for example determined by a similarity threshold, according to which a level of similarity between a provided digital medium and information regarding registered digital media can be defined . For example , all content identi fiers stored in the database which have a similarity higher than such similarity threshold are returned as matching content identi fier entries from the database .

This is in particular advantageous in case certain modi fications have been performed to the digital medium, which should, however, still be considered matching a corresponding unmodi fied version . For example in case the digital medium is a digital picture and a contrast and/or brightness and/or colori zation of the digital picture has been changed, a similarity threshold could be defined, which still would find corresponding content identifiers of the changed and unchanged digital pictures as matching entries in the database. Further, in case the digital medium is a picture of a real-world sculpture or painting, for example, for which ownership is registered in the blockchain network, pictures of said sculpture or painting might be taken with different devices and/or from different angles, which may result in a certain difference between the corresponding digital media. By determining also similar content identifiers as matching content identifiers, such differences may be accepted in the verification process, and results concerning similar assets may be returned.

According to a third aspect, a system for registering a digital medium comprises a permissioned blockchain network. The permissioned blockchain network comprises at least one peer and a database. The at least one peer is configured to receive a digital medium from a medium provider and an identifier of the medium provider, execute a smart contract for registering the digital medium, verify the identifier of the medium provider using the smart contract, determine a content identifier of the digital medium using the smart contract, generate a registration identifier corresponding to the digital medium using the smart contract, store the registration identifier in a blockchain, and provide the registration identifier and the content identifier to the database. The database is configured to store the registration identifier and the content identifier.

According to a fourth aspect, a system for verifying a registration of a digital medium comprises a permissioned blockchain network comprising at least one peer and a database . The at least one peer is configured to : receive a digital medium from a medium provider, execute a smart contract for veri fying the registration of the digital medium in the permissioned blockchain network, determine a content identi fier of the digital medium using the smart contract , and transmit the content identi fier of the digital medium to the medium provider . The database is configured to : receive the content identi fier from the medium provider, search the database for at least one stored content identi fier corresponding to the determined content identi fier and at least one corresponding registration identi fier, and transmit the corresponding at least one registration identi fier to the medium provider . The at least one peer is further configured to : receive the at least one registration identi fier from the medium provider, determine , using the smart contract executed on the at least one peer, whether the at least one registration identi fier is stored in a blockchain to veri fy the received at least one registration identi fier, and transmit a result of the veri fication of the at least one registration identi fier to the medium provider .

According to a fi fth aspect , a computer program comprises instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, make the at least one processor perform the method according to the first or second aspect .

According to a sixth aspect , a computer-readable storage medium comprises the computer program according to the fi fth aspect .

Advantages and embodiments of the third to sixth aspect correspond to those described with respect to the first and second aspect and are not repeated herein again . Moreover, any features described with regard to one of the aspects can be readily combined with any of the other aspects .

Further advantageous embodiments of the invention are disclosed in the attached claims as well as the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments . The exemplary embodiments are described with respect to the attached figures .

In the figures :

Figure 1 shows a flowchart of a method for registering a digital medium using a permissioned blockchain network according to a first embodiment ,

Figure 2 shows a flowchart of a method for veri fying a registration of a digital medium using a permissioned blockchain network according to a first embodiment ,

Figure 3 shows a flowchart of a method for registering a digital medium using a permissioned blockchain network according to a second embodiment ,

Figure 4 shows a flowchart of a method for veri fying a registration of a digital medium using a permissioned blockchain network according to a second embodiment , and Figure 5 shows a system for registering a digital medium and for veri fying a registration of a digital medium .

Figure 1 shows a flowchart of a method 100 for registering a digital medium using a permissioned blockchain network according to a first embodiment of the invention . It shall be pointed out that registering the digital medium in this context means registering the content of the digital medium based on its content identi fiers , as described below .

In one step S 101 , at least one peer of a permissioned blockchain network receives a digital medium from a medium provider . The at least one peer further receives an identi fier of the medium provider from the medium provider together with the digital medium . The identi fier may either be an explicit identi fier of the medium provider, transmitted together with the digital medium, or may be an implicit identi fier, derived from a cryptographic key of the medium provider or other identi fication means .

In another step S 102 , the at least one peer executes a smart contract for registering the digital medium, which has been received in step S 101 . I f multiple peers execute the smart contract , each peer executes the same smart contract individually . The smart contract comprises algorithms implementing tasks that need to be performed by the at least one peer in order to register the digital medium, such as described in the following steps .

In another step S 103 , the at least one peer veri fies the identi fier of the medium provider in the smart contract . Hereby, the at least one peer veri fies , using the smart contract, whether the identifier of the medium provider is valid. For example if only certain medium providers are accepted, it is verified whether the medium provider providing the digital medium and the identifier is such an allowed medium provider.

In another step S104, the at least one peer determines a content identifier of the digital medium in the smart contract. Herein, the smart contract runs a content identification on the digital medium to identify the content identifier. For example in case the digital medium is a sound file, an acoustic fingerprint of the sound file is generated. In case, for example, the digital medium is an image, a light-per-pixel spectrum may be generated. Other content identification processes are, of course, possible.

In another step S105, the at least one peer generates a registration identifier corresponding to the digital medium in the smart contract. The registration identifier is in the scope of the blockchain network a globally unique identifier of the registration process. One possibility to generate the registration identifier is to generate the registration identifier based on the actual transaction identifier, which is generated according to a blockchain protocol. Alternatively, the registration identifier may be generated independently from the blockchain transaction identifier. Further possibilities to generate the unique registration identifier, however, are of course also possible.

In another step S106, the at least one peer stores the registration identifier in a blockchain. Storing the registration identifier in the blockchain may be initiated or executed by the smart contract. Before storing the registration identifier in the blockchain, the registration identifier may be propagated to and checked at further peers, in particular to such further peers, which also executed the smart contract and generated the registration identifier.

In another step S107, the at least one peer provides the registration identifier and the content identifier to a database. The database may then store the registration identifier with the corresponding content identifier for subsequent queries.

Figure 2 shows a flowchart of a method 200 for verifying a registration of a digital medium using a permissioned blockchain network according to a first embodiment. For example, the method 200 as shown in Figure 2 may be used to query database entries as generated with method 100 as shown in Figure 1.

In one step S201, at least one peer of a permissioned blockchain network receives a digital medium from a medium provider. Optionally, the at least one peer may also receive an identifier of the medium provider.

In another step S202, the at least one peer executes a smart contract for verifying the registration of the digital medium in the permissioned blockchain network. Optionally, in case the at least one peer also received the identifier of the medium provider, the identifier of the medium provider may be verified in the smart contract, equally as performed in step S103 of method 100, shown in Figure 1. For the query process, however, the verification of the identifier of the medium provider is not obligatory, in case requests from unidentified entities are also allowed. In another step S203, the at least one peer determines a content identifier of the digital medium using the smart contract. Said step may be performed identical to step S104 of method 100 as shown in Figure 1.

In another step S204, the at least one peer transmits the content identifier of the digital medium, determined in step S203, to the medium provider. The medium provider is thereby enabled to query a database for at least one stored content identifier matching the determined content identifier. Additionally, the medium provider is enabled to receive at least one registration identifier from the database, which is stored together with the at least one content identifier.

In another step S205, the at least one peer receives the at least one registration identifier, which was found in the database in step S204, and which belongs to the at least one stored content identifier matching the content identifier determined in step S203. The at least one peer receives the registration identifier from the medium provider.

In another step S206, the at least one peer verifies the at least one registration identifier in the smart contract executed on the at least one peer. This verification is performed by checking, whether a matching registration identifier can be found in a blockchain, in which registration identifiers are stored, for example as described with respect to step S106 regarding Figure 1.

In another step S207, the at least one peer transmits a result of the verification of the at least one registration identifier to the medium provider. In case the registration identifier was not able being verified, i.e., no matching registration identifier could be found stored in the blockchain, a result of the verification could be that the data base entry, from which the at least one registration identifier was obtained, has been erroneous, e.g. has been tempered with. In case a matching registration identifier was found in the blockchain, a result of the verification could be that the digital medium, which was provided in step S201, was previously registered in the permissioned blockchain network. In the latter case, merely a notification regarding a verified registration could be returned in step S207, or further corresponding information could be provided, such as, for example, an identifier of the medium provider that originally registered the digital medium in the blockchain network, and/or further metadata, such as described in other parts of this application.

Figure 3 shows a flowchart of a method 300 for verifying a registration of a digital medium using a permissioned blockchain network according to a second embodiment.

In one step 301, a user 31 submits a digital medium with metadata for registration to a client application 32. The digital medium may be a picture, a sound file, or a video of a digital or real-world asset, such as, for example, a painting, a sculpture, a document, a song, spoken words, etc. The user 31 may use any electronic device, which the user can use to provide such digital medium. For example, the user 31 may use a smartphone, tablet computer, laptop, desktop computer, wearable, etc. The metadata may comprise, for example, information regarding the asset, such as an asset name, and originators name, information regarding a file type of the digital medium, a time of creation of the asset and/or the digital medium, etc .

The client application 32 may be , for example , an application, which runs on a personali zed user device of the user 31 , or may be a web application, which the user can access , for example with a personali zed profile . Alternatively, the client application 32 may be an openly accessible application, to which, for example , an identi fication of the user, who provides the digital medium, can be entered .

In another step 302 , the client application 32 processes the digital medium and the metadata received in step 301 . For example , the client application 32 may veri fy a type of the digital medium ( such as picture/ song/ f iletype/etc . ) Further, the client application 32 may perform API validation and pack the received data to forward it via its API . The client application 32 generates a transaction payload, i . e . a data packet comprising the digital medium and the metadata . The client application 32 and the user 31 may be regarded as medium provider in this case .

In another step 303 , the client application 32 signs the transaction payload with a cryptographic key of the client application 32 and sends the signed transaction payload to a peer 33 of a permissioned blockchain network . By sending the signed transaction payload to the peer 33 , the client application 32 initiates a request to execute a smart contract for registration on the peer 33 . In this embodiment , the invention is described with respect to only one peer . However, instead of only using one peer 33 , also multiple peers of the permissioned blockchain network may be used . In this embodiment , as shown in Figure 3 , an identi fier of the user that provides the digital medium is provided to the peer 33 by signing the transaction payload with the cryptographic key of the client application 32 . Other ways of providing such identi fier of the medium provider, however, are of course also possible . In case the client application 32 is , for example , a web application, the identi fier of the medium provider may be , for example , related to an account of a user 31 for said web application, or may be entered by the user 31 via said web application .

In another step 304 , the peer 33 decrypts the signed transaction payload . The peer 33 , therefore , obtains the digital medium, the metadata and the identi fier of the medium provider .

In another step 305 , the peer 33 requests execution of a smart contract 34 for registering the digital medium in the blockchain network .

When the smart contract 34 is executed, the smart contract 34 veri fies an identity of the medium provider in a step 306 based on the identi fier of the medium provider received by the peer 33 . In a permissioned blockchain network, a governing entity or consortium of entities provides policies for the blockchain network . With those policies , for example , rules are provided, regarding which entities are allowed to provide digital media for registration . In step 306 , therefore , the smart contract 34 may veri fy the identity of the medium provider by enforcing those policies . Furthermore , in step 306 , the smart contract 34 analyzes the digital medium and generates a content identi fier ( also called fingerprint ) of the digital medium as described in other parts of this application .

The smart contract 34 then further generates a registration identi fier which identi fies the transactions of this registration process .

In another step 307 , the smart contract 34 stores the registration identi fier in a blockchain of the blockchain network by appending the transaction to a ledger of the peer 33 . Alternatively to directly appending the transaction to the ledger of the peer 33 , step 307 may comprise several substeps , not shown herein : after generating the registration identi fier, the peer 33 transmits an endorsement message to the client application 32 , informing the client application 32 that the transaction has been success fully generated, including the transaction data . The client application 32 then sends the transaction data with the endorsement message to an ordering service , not shown herein . The ordering service is preferably a peer of the blockchain network, di f ferent from peers which may generate transaction data . The ordering service veri fies the transaction data and, in case the veri fication is success ful , orders the transaction identi fier into a block, and sends the block for registration to the peer 33 . Once the peer 33 receives said block from the ordering service , the peer 33 then veri fies that a corresponding endorsement for said transaction exists , validates the transaction identi fier, and appends the block comprising the registration identi fier corresponding to the transaction data to the blockchain . Alternatively to using the same peer 33 for generating the transaction and endorsement message and appending the block to the blockchain, di f ferent peers may be used for that . An endorsement peer, generating the transaction and endorsement message , and a committing peer, appending the received block to the blockchain . This may achieve an even higher level of security .

Afterwards , the peer 33 provides a "registration succeeded" message to the client application 32 in step 308 . Optionally, with that "registration succeeded" message , the registration identi fier may be provided to the client application 32 , such that the client application 32 has veri fiable proof of its requested and success fully performed registration of the provided digital medium .

Additionally, the peer 33 provides the transaction event data, i . e . , the registration identi fier, the content identi fier, the identi fier of the medium provider and the metadata to a database controller 35 in a step 309 . To do so , the database controller 35 connects to the peer 33 to intercept new transaction events . For example , the database controller 35 is an application of a client connected to the peer 33 or an external application communicating through a client connected to the peer 33 , wherein the client may be the client application 32 or a di f ferent client . The database controller 35 may instruct the peer to provide the database controller 35 with a noti fication once new transaction event data are available such that the database controller 35 can obtain the corresponding data from the peer 33 .

The database controller 35 persists the transaction event data, i . e . , creates from the intercepted transaction event data corresponding information to be registered in a database 36 , to enable querying of the corresponding data in a step 310 and forwards the data to the database 36 .

The database 36 then stores the transaction event data received from the database controller 35 in the database 36 in a step 311 . In particular, the registration identi fier and the content identi fier are stored in the database 36 .

Additionally, also the metadata, the identi fier of the medium provider, a copy of the digital medium itsel f , or other related data may be stored in the database 36 .

Figure 4 shows a flowchart of a method 400 for veri fying a registration of a digital medium using a permissioned blockchain network according to a second embodiment .

In one step 401 , a user 41 provides a digital medium to a client application 32 . Additionally, the user 41 may define a similarity threshold, which defines , how much a digital medium corresponding to a stored entry in a database may di f fer from the digital medium provided by the user 41 , while still being determined as a match for the digital medium provided to the client application 32 .

In a step 402 , the digital medium is processed by the client application 42 . The client application 42 generates a transaction payload, i . e . a data packet comprising the digital medium and the metadata .

The client application 42 then signs the transaction payload with a cryptographic key of the client application 42 in a step 403 and sends the signed transaction payload to a peer 43 of a permissioned blockchain network . By sending the signed transaction payload to the peer 43 , the client application 42 initiates a request to execute a smart contract for analyzing the provided digital medium on the peer 43, i.e., verify whether an identical or similar digital medium has been correctly registered in the blockchain network. In this embodiment, the invention is described with respect to only one peer 43. However, instead of only using one peer 43, also multiple peers of the permissioned blockchain network may be used.

In another step 404, the peer 43 decrypts the signed transaction payload. The peer 43, therefore, obtains the digital medium and the identifier of the medium provider. The identifier of the medium provider may be obtained corresponding to the process described with respect to method 300.

In another step 405, the peer 43 requests execution of a smart contract 44 for analyzing the digital medium in the blockchain network.

When the smart contract 44 is executed, the smart contract 44 verifies an identity of the medium provider in a step 406 based on the identifier of the medium provider received by the peer 43. The verification of the identifier of the medium provider may be performed corresponding to the process as described with respect to method 300.

Furthermore, in step 406, the smart contract 44 analyzes the digital medium and generates content identifiers (also called fingerprints) of the digital medium as described in other parts of this application. The generation of the content identifier may be performed identical to that described with respect to method 300. The smart contract 44 may optionally further generate a transaction identi fier which identi fies the transactions of this analyzation process . The generation of the transaction identi fier may correspond to the generation of the registration identi fier as described with respect to method 300 .

In another step 407 , the smart contract 44 optionally stores the transaction identi fier in a blockchain of the blockchain network by appending the transaction to a ledger of the peer 43 . The blockchain, to which the transaction identi fier is appended may be the same or a di f ferent blockchain as the blockchain, in which the registration identi fiers are stored .

In a further step 408 , the peer 43 transmits the determined content identi fier to the client application 42 .

The client application 42 then transmits in a step 409 the content identi fier and the similarity threshold defined by the user 41 in step 401 to a database controller 45 , to initiate searching a database 46 for corresponding stored content identi fiers .

In a step 410 , the database controller 45 requests the database 46 to execute a query based on the provided content identi fier and similarity threshold .

The database 46 executes a query in a step 411 to find stored entries in the database 46 , which match the provided content identi fier considering the similarity threshold . The database 46 then returns to the database controller 45 in a step 412 registration identifiers corresponding to matched entries of the content identifier. With other words, the database 46 returns all registration identifiers, which correspond to content identifiers in the database, which are identical or, in view of the similarity threshold, similar enough to the provided content identifier to be considered a match regarding the content of the provided digital medium.

In a further step 413, the database controller 45 transmits the retrieved registration identifiers to the client application 42.

In a further step 414, the client application 42 transmits a request to verify the registration identifiers received from the database controller 45 to the peer 43. In order to request set verification from the peer 43, the client application 42 transmits the registration identifiers that were received in step 413 to the peer 43.

In a further step 415, the peer 43 initiates execution of a smart contract 44 to request a verification of the received registration identifiers.

In a further step 416, the smart contract 44 verifies an identity of the provider of the registration identifiers and retrieves registration identifiers corresponding to the registration identifiers obtained from the client application 42 from a blockchain, in which the registration identifiers are stored, for example as described with respect to method In a further step 417 , the smart contract 44 then returns a response to the peer 43 . In case no registration identi fiers stored the blockchain corresponding to the provided registration identi fiers was found by the smart contract 44 , a response may be , that no corresponding registration transaction existed, and that the corresponding entries in the database 46 must have been erroneous . In case registration identi fiers are found in the blockchain, which correspond to the provided registration identi fiers , the smart contract 44 returns a positive response to the peer 43 , for example declaring that corresponding registration transactions existed . Optionally, the smart contract 44 further transmits ledger data to the peer 43 with said response .

In a further step 418 , the peer 43 returns a response regarding the veri fied or non-veri fied registration to the client application 42 . This way, the user, who provided the digital medium in order to find out whether the same or a corresponding similar digital medium has been registered in the blockchain network receives a reliable and secure response whether such registration entry exists in the database 46 and whether a corresponding registration transaction can be veri fied based on the blockchain or not .

User 41 , client application 42 , peer 43 , smart contract 44 , database controller 45 , and database 46 may correspond to those described with respect to Figure 3 . However, in particular user 41 , client application 42 , peer 43 and smart contract 44 may also be di f ferent from the corresponding user 31 , client application 32 , peer 33 , and smart contract 34 . Figure 5 shows a system 50 for registering a digital medium and for veri fying a registration of a digital medium in a permissioned blockchain network .

The system 50 comprises a gateway application 51 , via which a user 52 may provide a digital medium, comprising content which the user 52 wishes to register or wishes to query a database regarding previous registrations with .

The system 50 further comprises a peer 53 , in this embodiment a peer of a hyperledger fabric permissioned blockchain network .

For registering a digital medium, the peer 53 is configured to receive a digital medium from the gateway application 51 from the user 52 and an identi fier of the user 52 . The peer 53 is further configured to execute a smart contract for registering the digital medium .

In the system 50 shown in Figure 5 , the smart contract may be stored in a medium registry 54 of the system 50 . The peer 53 is configured to veri fy the identi fier of the user 52 in the smart contract , determine a content identi fier of the digital medium in the smart contract , generate a registration identi fier corresponding to the digital medium in the smart contract , and store the registration identi fier in a blockchain . The registration identi fier may be stored on a ledger of the peer 53 itsel f and/or may be propagated to other peers 53 ' of the system 50 .

The peer 53 is further configured to provide the registration identi fier and the content identi fier to a database controller 55 , which is connected to a database 56 of the system 50 . The database controller 55 may be implemented on a client of the blockchain network or may be communicating with the blockchain network through such client , which then serves as a gateway for the database controller 55 . The database controller 55 may communicate with the peer 53 , for example , through an API . The database 56 is configured to store the registration identi fier and the content identi fier .

For veri fying a registration of a digital medium, the peer 53 is configured to receive a digital medium from the gateway application 51 from the user 52 , execute a smart contract for veri fying the registration of the digital medium in the permissioned blockchain network, and determine a content identi fier of the digital medium using the smart contract . The peer 53 is further configured to transmit the content identi fier of the digital medium to the gateway application 51 .

The database controller 55 is configured to receive the content identi fier from the gateway application 51 , search the database 56 for at least one stored content identi fier corresponding to the determined content identi fier and at least one corresponding registration identi fier, and transmit the corresponding at least one registration identi fier to the gateway application 51 .

The peer 53 is further configured to receive the at least one registration identi fier from the gateway application 51 , veri fy the at least one registration identi fier in the smart contract , and transmit a result of the veri fication of the at least one registration identi fier to the gateway application 51 . Technical and implementation details , which are described with regard to any of the figures or the aspects and embodiments above , correspondingly apply to any other of the aspects and embodiments described herein and are not repeated in detail .

List of reference signs

31, 41 user

32, 42 client application

33, 43 peer

34, 44 smart contract

35, 45 database controller

36, 46 database

50 system

51 gateway application

52 user

53, 53' peer

54 medium registry

55 database controller

56 database

100, 200 method

300, 400 method

S101 - S107 steps

S201 - S207 steps

301 - 311 steps

401 - 418 steps

Claims

35

Claims

1. A method (100, 300) for registering a digital medium using a permissioned blockchain network, the method comprising: receiving (S101, 303) , by at least one peer (33) of a permissioned blockchain network, a digital medium from a medium provider and an identifier of the medium provider, executing (S102, 305) , by the at least one peer (33) , a smart contract (34) for registering the digital medium, verifying (S103, 306) , by the at least one peer (33) , the identifier of the medium provider using the smart contract (34) , determining (S104, 306) , by the at least one peer (33) , a content identifier of the digital medium using the smart contract ( 34 ) , generating (S105, 306) , by the at least one peer (33) , a registration identifier corresponding to the digital medium using the smart contract (34) , storing (S106, 307) , by the at least one peer (33) , the registration identifier in a blockchain, providing (S107, 309, 310) , by the at least one peer (33) , the registration identifier and the content identifier to a database (36) .

2. The method (100, 300) according to claim 1, wherein the method (100, 300) further comprises: determining whether the database (36) comprises at least one content identifier identical and/or similar to the content identifier corresponding to the digital medium received from the medium provider.

3. The method (100, 300) according to any one of claims 1 or 2, wherein the content identifier is further propagated to at least one further peer of the permissioned blockchain network .

4. The method (100, 300) according to any one of claims 1 to

3, wherein further the identifier of the medium provider is stored, by the at least one peer (33) , in the blockchain.

5. The method (100, 300) according to any one of claims 1 to

4, wherein the method (100, 300) further comprises:

- transmitting (308) , by the at least one peer (33) , a result of the registering of the digital medium to the medium provider .

6. The method (100, 300) according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising:

- receiving (303) , by the at least one peer (33) , metadata corresponding to the digital medium,

- analyzing (304) , by the at least one peer (33) , the metadata, and

- providing (309, 310) , by the at least one peer, the metadata to the database (36) .

7. The method (100, 300) according to any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the digital medium comprises at least one of: a digital picture, a digital audio, and a digital video.

8. A method (200, 400) for verifying a registration of a digital medium using a permissioned blockchain network, the method comprising: receiving (S201, 403) , by at least one peer (43) of a permissioned blockchain network, a digital medium from a medium provider, executing (S202, 405) , by the at least one peer (43) , a smart contract (44) for verifying the registration of the digital medium in the permissioned blockchain network, determining (S203, 406) , by the at least one peer (43) , a content identifier of the digital medium using the smart contract ( 44 ) , transmitting (S204, 408) , by the at least one peer (43) , the content identifier of the digital medium to the medium provider, wherein the content identifier is used by the medium provider to search a database (46) for at least one stored content identifier corresponding to the determined content identifier and at least one corresponding registration identifier, receiving (S205, 414) , by the at least one peer (43) , the at least one registration identifier, determining (S206, 415, 416) , by the at least one peer (43) , using the smart contract (44) executed on the at least one peer (43) , whether the at least one registration identifier is stored in a blockchain to verify the received at least one registration identifier, and transmitting (S207, 418) , by the at least one peer (43) , a result of the verification of the at least one registration identifier to the medium provider. The method (200, 400) according to claim 8, wherein the transmitting (S207, 418) , by the at least one peer (43) , a result of the verification of the at least one registration identifier further comprises: - transmitting, by the at least one peer, at least one identifier of at least one medium provider corresponding to the at least one registration identifier.

10. The method (200, 400) according to any of claim 8 or 9, wherein the at least one content identifier corresponding to the determined content identifier is at least one content identifier, which is identical and/or similar to the determined content identifier according to a similarity threshold .

11. A system (50) for registering a digital medium, the system (50) comprising a permissioned blockchain network comprising at least one peer (53, 53' ) and a database (56) , wherein : the at least one peer (53, 53' ) is configured to receive a digital medium from a medium provider (51, 52) and an identifier of the medium provider (51, 52) , execute a smart contract for registering the digital medium, verify the identifier of the medium provider (51, 52) using the smart contract, determine a content identifier of the digital medium using the smart contract, generate a registration identifier corresponding to the digital medium using the smart contract, store the registration identifier in a blockchain, and provide the registration identifier and the content identifier to the database (56) ; and the database (56) is configured to store the registration identifier and the content identifier.

12. A system (50) for verifying a registration of a digital medium, the system (50) comprising a permissioned blockchain 39 network comprising at least one peer (53, 53' ) and a database (56) , wherein: the at least one peer (53, 53' ) is configured to: receive a digital medium from a medium provider (51, 52) , execute a smart contract for verifying the registration of the digital medium in the permissioned blockchain network, determine a content identifier of the digital medium using the smart contract, transmit the content identifier of the digital medium to the medium provider (51, 52) ; the database (56) is configured to: receive the content identifier from the medium provider (51, 52) , search the database (56) for at least one stored content identifier corresponding to the determined content identifier and at least one corresponding registration identifier, transmit the corresponding at least one registration identifier to the medium provider (51, 52) ; and the at least one peer (53, 53' ) is further configured to: receive the at least one registration identifier from the medium provider (51, 52) , determine, using the smart contract executed on the at least one peer (53, 53' ) , whether the at least one registration identifier is stored in a blockchain to verify the received at least one registration identifier, and transmit a result of the verification of the at least one registration identifier to the medium provider (51, 52) .

13. A computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, make the at least one processor perform the method (100, 300) according to any of claims 1 to 7 or the method (200, 400) according to any of claims 8 to 10. - 40 -

14 . A computer-readable storage medium comprising the computer program according to claim 13 .